Protector Practice: A Taste of the Dorje Kasung

with Shastri Andrew Sacamano

May 10th (2014)

Protector Practice: A Taste of the Dorje Kasung. On a Wednesday evening you may have seen a person in coat and tie at the entrance to the center. That was a Kasung doing protector practice. On Sunday we do protector chants. What is that all about?

When His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa came to visit the US in 1976, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche asked some of his students to be drivers, escorts, and guards for His Holiness and his party. Those students became the first Dorje Kasung - a term which literally translates as "Indestructible Protectors of Dharma". For the rest of his life, Trungpa Rinpoche continued to teach, train, and work closely with the Dorje Kasung - showing them how to serve and protect the Shambhala community and lineage in accordance with the view of all pervasive Basic Goodness, compassion, and profound non-aggression. Sakyong Mipham continues this lineage, and both Trunpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham have taught that the Dorje Kasung are an indispensable part of creating the right environment for people to hear the Shambhala Teachings and allowing them flourish.

This workshop is open to anyone who is inspired to learn more about the protector principle in action, and who thinks they could one day be inspired to offer service to the community in this way. There is no prerequisite, and no commitment is necessary (or expected) of those who attend. While presenting some high level material, the workshop will only have brief lectures, and will focus instead on an introduction to the spirit and practice of Dorje Kasungship: offering one's time and energy so that the Shambhala Dharma can be shared and understood.

No special equipment needed, but please come in khaki trousers and a white button-down shirt - or the closest that you have!

Registration includes lunch and a short social. Please leave a little time after the 3:30 program ending to enjoy some conversation with the director and participants.

About the Director:

Andrew Sacamano is one of three Shastris - senior teachers - assigned to the Boulder Shambhala Center. In addition to teaching Shambhala Training and Buddhist classes, he is the international Dorje Kasung Education Officer, and regularly teaches the dharma of the Dorje Kasung - how to engage chaos and conflict without being consumed by the ideas of self and other. He also works as a software engineer for Google.